China: Conflict Between Trade Name And Prior Registered Trademark

China: Conflict Between Trade Name And Prior Registered Trademark

China: Conflict Between Trade Name And Prior Registered Trademark

With the rapid development of the economy, businesses are more conscious of the need of include trademark protection in their corporate development plans. Trademark agencies are springing up all over these days. Apart from obtaining a complete trademark registration system, big corporations are increasingly focusing on trademark administration and protection. Conflicts between trade names and registered trademarks are common in practice. In this post, we’ll look at the conflicts between later business names and previously registered trademarks.

The name of the enterprise, as well as the name of the main brand, would be a critical consideration during the enterprise preparation stage. After deciding on a company name, it is submitted for evaluation and registration to the Administration for Market Regulation (AMR); after deciding on a brand name, it is submitted for review and registration to the State Intellectual Property Office. Despite the fact that both are given following an official evaluation, they may conflict with the rights of other third parties.

Conflict Between Trade Name And Prior Registered Trademark

The use of registered trademarks and unregistered well-known trademarks of others as the name of the enterprise name misleads the public and constitutes improper usage, according to Article 58 of the Chinese Trademark Law. The Chinese Anti-Unfair Competition Law will be used to deal with competitive activity.

According to Article 2 of the Chinese Anti-Unfair Competition Law, operators must adhere to the principles of voluntary, equality, fairness, and good faith in their production and commercial activities, as well as laws and business ethics.

According to the provision of Article 6(4) of Chinese Anti-Unfair Competition LawA business shall not commit the following acts of confusion to mislead a person into believing that a commodity is one of another person or has a particular connection with another person:: … (4) Other acts of confusion sufficient to mislead a person into believing that a commodity is one of another person or has a particular connection with another person.

The use of a prior registered trademark as a company name is accused of being unfair competition against the registrant under the above legal rules. In addition to a stable right to exclusive use of a previously registered trademark, the following considerations must be taken into account when deciding whether its action is unfair:

  1. The similarity between the trademark’s designated goods/services and the company’s business scope.
  2. Whether there is a competitive relationship between the two entities is an important measurement factor. If they are totally different, and no connection can be proved, then the possibility of causing the related public’s confusion will be quite low.
  3. Whether the prior registered trademark has been used widely and obtained certain influence.
  4. Maintaining a fair and sound market competition environment is a principle that must be followed throughout unfair competition instances. In the case of registered trademarks that have not been put into actual use, even if the registration date is relatively earlier, the court will make a prudent judgment because they have not formed a market competitiveness with the protected trademark as the core value, and they have no reputation in the relevant industry. From the viewpoint of the trademark’s role of identifying the source of goods/services, such a function is likewise impossible to perform for unused marks, and the consequences of misleading the public would not be caused.

On the contrary, trademarks that have been put into actual use and continuously promoted by the registrant in order to gain a higher reputation, particularly in the vicinity of the enterprise’s location, have a higher chance of causing consumer confusion, which means they are more likely to be protected.

According to the provision of Article 2(2) of “Interpretation of the Supreme People’s Court on Several Issues concerning the Application of Law in the Trial of Civil Dispute Cases involving Protection of Well-known Trademarks“, in the following civil disputes, the parties use the well-known trademark as the factual basis, based on the specific circumstances of the case, the court considers that it is indeed necessary to determine whether the trademark in question is well-known: (1) … (2) An action for trademark infringement or unfair competition brought on the ground that the name of an enterprise is identical with or similar to its well-known trademark; (3)……

In summary, when a later company name conflicts with a previously registered trademark, the owner of the later company name may indeed be engaging in unfair competition against the registrant of the earlier trademark, but the competitive relationship between the two parties, trademark use, and the subjective status of the trade name owner must all be taken into account. If the owner of the trade name additionally involves publicly putting the alleged infringing trade name on a product, this could be considered trademark infringement. Companies can use the following variables to evaluate suspected infringers in connected industries and determine effective rights protection measures when improving trademark administration and protection systems.

– You could visit here to see Procedure of China Trademark Registration.

– You could visit here to check the required documents of filing trademark in China

Contact AAA IPRIGHT: Email: [email protected]

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